NBA Trade Rumors: Spurs Eye 2nd Lottery Pick; Wembanyama's Teammate Coulibaly Linked

The San Antonio Spurs could look to keep the partnership of Victor Wembanyama and Bilal Coulibaly going in the NBA.

The Spurs, which are widely expected to select Wembanyama No. 1 overall in Thursday's draft, are attempting to acquire a second lottery pick with Coulibaly believed to be a target, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

Wembanyama and Coulibaly won a national youth championship together when they were 13 and they also helped lead France's Metropolitans 92 to the LNB Pro A Finals this past season.

"Being a teammate with him again would be great. One of the best starts for his career and for mine," Wembanyama said.

Wembanyama also tweeted earlier this month that he believes Coulibaly should be a top-five pick. He expanded on this comments while speaking with reporters on Wednesday:

"He's actually 6'8", 7-3 wingspan. And you know, often players, they cheat on their measurements. But we don't do that in France. He probably looks small compared to me, but he's not, actually. Let me tell you, some people were shocked when they came to my team. He's just so … he can be just so valuable to a team, I'm sure of it. His agility, athleticism, skills, speed, shooting, defense. He can guard four positions out of five and he can play multiple positions on offense."

He added: "[Coulibaly]'s just so complete as a player and he plays at a level—he performed against competition which is light years away from what other prospects do. Our pro league is light years away from many prospects in this draft class. So, yeah, I believe he's top five."

Before the 2022-23 season, Coulibaly was considered more of "an interesting long-term project," according to Ignacio Rissotto of Sports Illustrated, but his performance with the Metropolitans 92 put him on the radar of many NBA teams.

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman has Coulibaly going No. 10 overall to the Mavericks in his latest mock draft, though he also wrote Dallas is expected to trade the pick and that the Frenchman "could be an upside target for a team looking to take a big swing."

"Between a combination of age, explosion and shot-making that screams upside—not to mention his budding production into the LNB Pro A playoffs—teams think he's going somewhere in the No. 9-14 range," Wasserman wrote.

If Coulibaly does end up with Wembanyama and the Spurs, the duo's performance will be one of the biggest storylines to watch during the 2023-24 season.